Happy Valentine's Day reading! First, a bit of personal background: My husband and I went on our first date 42 years ago on Valentine's Day. It was a disappointing event, to be honest, but there was enough spark to encourage another outing, and the rest is history. It seems appropriate to celebrate the romantic holiday with some romantic-mystery/mystery-romance genre mating. Maybe start by revisiting the popular "gothics" of my teen reading years: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart, Dragonwyck by Anya Seton and Wings of the Falcon by Barbara Michaels. For more modern fare, try You Belong to Me by Karen Rose, in which a sexy widower cop and a troubled medical examiner find love while investigating a serial killer, or Heartbreaker by Julia Garwood as against-the-odds romance blossoms amid another serial murder case. Or, embrace Stephanie Plum, the protagonist of Janet Evanovich's popular series, for her debut with One for the Money, in which Stephanie takes a job hunting bail jumpers for a quick buck and is soon on the trail of a hot ex-beau with a price on his head while getting training from the studly "Ranger." All of these are sturdy romantic mystery entries, but, if you're looking for more literary prose, read the Booker Prize-winning best-seller Possession by A.S. Byatt. Described as a "novel of wit and romance, an intellectual mystery, and a triumphant love story," the tale is built around a pair of young scholars researching the lives of two Victorian poets through their letters, journals, and poems, and tracking the dead poets' movements from London to Yorkshire, with seances and fairy lore along the way. For additional romantic mystery options: http://bestmysterybooks.com/best-romantic-mystery-books.html
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